Māori filmmaker, Hiona Henare is about to premiere her most recent documentary: Ruahine, Stories in her skin, which she hopes will help normalise the wearing of moko kauae.
"Come on New Zealand - this stuff shouldn't be happening, it shouldn't be happening at all," she says of racial abuse hurled at women wearing moko kauae. "The takeaway for me will just be normalising moko kauae once and for all."
The official trailer for Ruahine: Stories in Her Skin. Source / Facebook
Henare recalls the recent incident where her friend Ngahina Hohaia, a Māori woman who has moko kauae was abused physically and verbally.
"We felt it all over Aotearoa," she says.
The film itself is an intimate documentary that follows two women receiving their moko kauae, which Henare says is aimed at non-Māori so they can become more comfortable seeing moko kauae in public.
"Get used to the moko kauae because it's not going away any time soon - in fact you're gonna be seeing more of it."
The film is set to premiere on June 15 at the Doc Edge Documentary Festival.